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second fiddle
noun
- a person or thing filling a secondary role, especially to one immediately superior (often used attributively): That new copycat seafood restaurant will never be more than a second fiddle to ours.
He has a certain strength and humility that comes from being in a second-fiddle position for years.
That new copycat seafood restaurant will never be more than a second fiddle to ours.
second fiddle
noun
- the second violin in a string quartet or one of the second violins in an orchestra
- the musical part assigned to such an instrument
- a secondary status
- a person who has a secondary status
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Word History and Origins
Origin of second fiddle1
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Idioms and Phrases
- play second fiddle, to act in a secondary role:
She's tired of playing second fiddle to her egomaniacal teammate.
More idioms and phrases containing second fiddle
see play second fiddle .Discover More
Example Sentences
Bill declined to play the second-fiddle parts; he took himself out of Mary's orchestra entirely.
He found it hard to believe a man of my sort, so self-assured, would stand the truth from a man of his second-fiddle sort.
Mrs. Fox-Darriel found the rle of second-fiddle a little dull; still, it was well worth while to play it.
They might have found a place for me, too, had I consented to play second-fiddle where I had been used to lead the band.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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